THE CORONA VIRUS (COVID-19) AND OTHER VIRAL PANDEMIC IN THE LIGHT OF ISLAMIC AND BIBLICAL MEAT EATING PROHIBITION (2)

In the first instalment of the above captioned article the attention of readers were drawn to the nature of viruses and how they are transmitted to humans through chains of animal carriers to become fatal diseases. In this second instalment these dangerous animal carriers are critically examined in the light of Islamic and Biblical meat eating prohibitions. 

      Muhammad, on whom be peace, was certainly divinely informed 1,400years ago, about the dangers of microbial lives (bacteria, viruses) to human life at a time when the world was virtually ignorant of their existence. Let me quote from some few Islamic sources to substantiate this point. In Muslim and SunanNisai the Prophet, on whom be peace, is reported to have said: “One of the wings of a fly carries disease (Daa’i), while the other wing also carries the cure (Dawaa). If therefore a fly falls into your food and drink, submerge it into the latter, since it releases the disease followed by the cure” Here the Prophet, of course, was referring to the bacteria that cause typhoid fever which is carried by the fly. In the same vein scientists have alsodiscovered that the bodies of flies carry phycomycetes fungus. It is now known that it is fungus that naturally manufactures useful and harmful chemicals. For example penicillin antibiotic is known to be manufactured by a strain of fungi. Hence the cure refered to by the Prophet could mean some fungi manufactured drug. In another report by Hadrat Jabir Bin Abdullah we read: “The Prophet said; cover your eating and drinking utensils, for there is a night in the course of the year when epidemic disease (Wabaa) spread. It does not pass by utensils without cover nor skin bags that have not been tied in the mouth, except that the disease (Daai) falls into them” (Muslim). Look at how the Holy Prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace, has skilfully and eloquently used words to distinguish between disease coursing microbes (Daa) and the epidemic they cause (Wabaa). This is because by the disease falling into food and drink in uncovered utensils to cause epidemic he was referring to such microorganisms as bacteria and virus that proliferate in the coolness of the night. In SunanNisai the Holy Prophet has instructed Muslims to wash seven times a drinking or eating utensil into which a dog puts its mouth. Secondly, the Prophet ordered that all stray dogs should be killed. Washing such utensils seven times is to entirely rid them of dangerous virus. Killing all stray dogs is to protect us from being bitten by a rabid dog. Suffice for these few examples that proves beyond the least shadow of doubt that the Prophet of Islam was divinelyinformed of microbial lives that cause disease to humans. But most importantly the Prophet was very insistence on personal hygiene. Washing the private part after attending natures call, cleaning the hands regularly with water and cleaning the teeth five times daily with chewing stick formed part and parcel of his daily routines. These practices go to buttress the point that he had perfect knowledge of microbes and the harmsthey cause.

Animals

The following Qur’anic texts forbid Muslims from eating pigs, dead animals and blood: “He has made unlawful to you only that which dies of itself and blood and the flesh of swine” (Quran2:173). An animal that dies of itself couldhave been infected by deadly bacteria or viruses. Microbial lives also exist in blood, while the meat of the swine contains an unaccountable number of bacteria and viruses. From the Bible we also read: And swine, he is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall ye eat not, and theircarcase shall ye not touch, they are unclean to you (Leviticus 11:7-8). In view of the continual danger ever posed to mankind from flu, with special reference to influenza; the Qur’an and the Bible, of course, are referring to the dangers of the flu virus. Quoting a scientific source we read: “Today we know that avian (bird) and humanflu virus commonly mingle in pigs and exchange genetic segments, generating new viruses that can take our immune system by surprise, causing epidemics’’. In other words flu viruses from birds and human can mix and undergo mutation in the pig to create a new most dangerous virus that can cause new and unprecedentedpandemic worldwide!!! Quoting another source we read: “The unaffected and infected batspass the virus to pigs, which develop a violent cough, by which they infect the people who slaughter the animal for food. “ This is in reference to thenipahvirus that cause encephalitis in which the brain is enlarged. Since the danger posed by the pigs meat is ever present then, of course, mankind must stop eating them as stipulated in divinely revealed books.

From the traditions of the Holy Prophet the following class of birds and animals are forbidden to be used as meat: “FromIbn Umar. The Prophet forbade the eating of flesh of wild beasts(carnivores) with canine teeth (fangs) and also forbade the eatingof birds of prey possessing talons “(Muslim). By birds of prey with talons the Prophet was referring to the eagle, kite, hawk, owl etc. And by wild beasts with canine teeth he was referring to the carnivores including: The lion, the tiger, the fox, hyena, the dog, the cat etc. Why?Simply because by virtue of their ability to prey on fellow animals they play the role of potential carriers. If an uninfected cheeta or eagleprey on an uninfected animal, of course, the viruses or bacteria are transmitted to them. For example local crows and eagles were known to have died in the west Nile virus epidemic in the US in 1999. Most likely for preyingon fellow birds or animals that were infected. In Leviticus 11:13-19 the following birds of prey are among the forbidden as meat. The eagle, the prey, the falcon, the kite, the night hawk. Also forbidden in the same Leviticus is the bat which is seriously implicated in the spread of diseases in the past and in the present covid-19 virus spread. Equally forbidden are the following rodents: The rat, the mouse, the chameleon (Leviticus 11:29-30). The black rat contain the flea whose bite causes the bubonic plaque that killed millions in the past.

From Ayesha: The messenger of Allah said, these five animals are to be killed even in the state of Ihram during pilgrimage: The Crow(raven), kite, scorpion, the mouse, the rabid dog (Bukhari,SunanNisai). Apart from the scorpion for its poisonous sting the rest are all potential bacteria and viral carriers and even reservoirs. Concerning an animal that dies of itselfwe read: ‘’and if any beast, of which you may eat, die; he that touches the carcass thereof shall be unclean“(Leviticus 11:39). Meaning that an animal that is permissible to be eaten, if it dies of itself should not be touched. Why? In ordernot to infect ourselves with the bacteria or viruses that killed it. Foroffenders the Bible prescribes cleaning hands and clothes with water including quarantine as meansto rid usof the viruses and bacteria. 

          Quoting a reliable source of the current corona virus disease we read: “The primary source of corona virus has been found. It turns out that many house roofs in Wuhan, Hubai province are heavily infected with chrysanthemum bats, a type of bat that carry the virus in the body. When snakes eat these bats snakes became secondary carriers of the virus and when Chinese eat these snakes they human carriers spreading it to other humans” (Social Media, the internet). Bats and snakes forbidden in religious books are once more implicated.

Let the entire world do the right thing by refraining first from eating animals, specifically carriers of viruses and bacteria. 

Conclusion

Let the entire world be extra careful about the meat we eat as the first step to rid the world of pandemic diseases!

Khalid Kofe Ahmed